Touhou Youkai Hourousha: Through the Looking Glass
by Genichiro
Summary: Sequel to From the Sky and Beyond, Touhou Youkai Hourousha part two; several months after the incident with Kario, a new threat arises when the seal on an ancient evil begins to weaken. Can this evil that Yukari herself cannot face be defeated?


_Disclaimer: Touhou Project is property of Team Shanghai Alice; I do not profit from this work in any way_

**Chapter 1 – The Seal**

The skies overhead were black with clouds. Lightning raced across the sky at short intervals. The momentary flashes of light lit the barren, scarred landscape. The ground was cracked in many places, other places bore scorch marks, while craters filled other places. Thunder echoed throughout the plain, yet not a single drop of rain fell from the foreboding sky. The flashes of lightning revealed yet another sight on the landscape, a trail of blood. The blood trail ended at a body, the body of broken, beaten individual. Her previously white dress was torn and stained with blood. The purple cloth draped over it, once bearing several trigrams and a yin-yang with orange to go with the purple, was now half torn off, the rest smeared with blood. The many red ribbons adorning the outfit were now torn off or left hanging loose. A smashed, torn parasol made to match the dress lay beside the broken body. Near the person's head lay a mob cap, once white with a large, red ribbon, now torn and bloodied. From the person came flowing, long blond hair, now streaked with blood. The person's face, once of a fair complexion, now bruised and bloodied. One of her deep yellow eyes was open, while right was closed, blood coming from between the eyelids. Yukari Yakumo, the youkai said to be the strongest in all of Gensokyo, lay in a crumpled heap, each breath a struggle for her, resulting in more blood running from her mouth than already was.

"Well, well, look at you now, Yukari," came a voice in the distance. The voice was masculine, and held a tone of arrogant superiority. Yukari's one open eye was locked onto the person. Her gaze for full of contempt for the one who had beaten her so. The man she looked at was obscured in shadows. All that could be seen was his silhouette, showing he was of average height and build. He appeared to have long hair, and was carrying what appeared to be a sword. The misplaced ears upon his head suggested he was a youkai of some kind. The man appeared to have a dark aura about him; even the flashes of lightning could not pierce through it entirely, leaving details of his appearance to be undecipherable.

Yukari gurgled blood in an attempt to give the youkai before her a response, the shadow of the man approaching her, becoming closer every second.

"Oh, can't talk too much, now, can you?" the man asked as he stood beside Yukari. The man in shadow looked down upon Yukari's broken body. Though Yukari could not see it, she knew the man bore a smirk upon his face. The man spit upon Yukari's body, before stomping is foot down upon Yukari's body. The man stomped again, coinciding with a bright flash of lightning and a loud roar of thunder, as though the sky was screaming out in pain in place of Yukari. Yukari herself could only grunt, her body in so much pain that it was starting to become numb.

"Not so strong without that ability of yours, are you? You can't escape, you can't call for help, you can't do anything. I've waited centuries for this moment Yukari, and now..." the man stated, as he stomped down upon Yukari's shoulder with enough force to shatter her bones completely, "now, I'm going to enjoy every second of your destruction."

Yukari made one final act of defiance against the man in the form of spitting her blood upon the man's pants, her actions demonstrating she knew her end was at hand.

"Is that it, huh? Well, if you want to die, then fine, you can just die. I can tear your body to ribbons later as a demonstration for the Hakurei maiden and that shikigami of yours. Then they won't be so surprised when I do the same to them and their friends," the man stated in a tone showing his delight in the thought of his actions. This prompted Yukari to renew her struggle to break away from the man, her efforts rewarded with a kick to her head, breaking her jaw and forcing her to spit up more blood.

"I suppose now is as good a time as any to see if my new technique will work on you. If I can kill you with it, then no one can stand in my way. Good bye, Yukari," the man spoke as he raised his sword into the air. An aura of malignant, red energy swelled around the blade. Yukari could imagine the grin on the man's face as she felt the fear associated with one who knows her life is coming to an end. Yukari struggled under the weight of the man's foot, but it was all for naught as the blade is sent straight into Yukari's chest, a bright flash of lightning and a loud, deafening roar of thunder accompanying the killing blow.

Yukari sat straight up in her bed, covered in sweat from her terrible nightmare. The elegant bed, covered in white, silk sheets, and adorned with pillows covered in white lace trimmed with gold were all covered in Yukari's sweat. Yukari herself was wearing a deep violet nightgown. The nightgown ended in a delicate, lavender lace pattern. It, too, was covered in sweat. Yukari herself was panting from the intense dream. Her blond hair was matted against her back and face from the sweat sticking to it. As Yukari was calming herself down, she moved her arms to clear her hair from her face. After sitting awake for a couple of minutes, Yukari parted her bed sheets, slipped into a pair of lavender slippers, and gently opened the door of her lavish bedroom.

Yukari made her way through her mansion, her movement suggesting she had a set destination and an urgency to get there. Yukari approached a door to the outside, and opened it, the cool air of late fall hitting her body. Yukari didn't care about the cold and continued on her course. From the location of the sun, it could be seen that it was in the middle of the day, approaching the early afternoon. Yukari shielded her eyes from the bright light she was not used to seeing, and continued moving forward across her yard. She was walking upon a path paved in cut stone and trimmed with marble, a design idea she gleaned from one of her travels during ancient times. She continued until she passed through the gates of an eastern shrine. Yukari continued further, approaching a shrine to match the red torii she passed moments ago. The Shinto shrine appeared to be well kept. Not a single stray twig or piece of trash lay about the stone paved ground or the steps leading up to the shrine building. Yukari continued to the wood building and into it's interior, her destination being a room within the shrine building.

The room Yukari sought was fairly expansive, taking up most of the interior space of the shrine. The space of the room was broken by several wooden columns, keeping the building standing, as well as serving a role in the main purpose of the room, as indicated by the faint blue aura around them. In the focal point of the room there was a large boulder, twice the height of Yukari. The boulder itself was separated from the rest of the space with a shimenawa rope, bearing several ofuda hanging from it. The wood columns bore matching ofuda, all working together to reinforce a seal the boulder was a key part of. The boulder merged with the floor, showing the seal and shrine were build together. At random intervals, the aura about the seal would flicker and become visible briefly, before fading again. Yukari approached the seal, placing her hand near it, the frown upon her face becoming deeper as she felt out the power of the seal.

"_It's still getting weaker. It has been for a while now. It's been like this for the past several months, and I don't know what's triggering it. Can I be sure it's not a an after effect of Kario's incident? It's been almost a year, and anything he could have done should have showed up long before. Then again, I have no idea just how he managed to free Tiara from the seal I placed with that time's Hakurei maiden on the northern shrine. The disruptions he caused may have caused some odd disruption that took this long to make it to this shrine. And yet I've sensed nothing wrong with the barrier. This baffles me to no end; just what is causing this seal to weaken. If I can't keep this seal from breaking, then..." _Yukari thought to herself as she sensed someone else enter the room.

Yukari turned to find a fox youkai, with nine, blond-furred tails flowing behind her. The fox was wearing a white,one piece, long sleeved dress, ending in lace frills on the bottom. There were cuffs at the ends of the arms, also ending in lace frills. The collar of the dress was also folded and ended in lace frills, secured with a small red gem pinning it to the rest of the dress. Over the dress was an indigo sheet of fabric, bearing an oriental design drawn out in white on both the front and back. The youkai was wearing a pink mob cop with lace frills and several yellow charms. The cap was shaped to accommodate the ears of the fox youkai, with a pair of white tassels at the tips of her ears. The youkai also had a pair of white slipper-shoes, with a band of indigo fabric at the top, trimmed in white lace. The youkai had yellow eyes and short, blond hair to match the color of the fur of her tails. Ran Yakumo set foot into the room, while taking note of the stress her master was experiencing.

"Mistress Yukari," Ran stated as she entered.

"Oh, Ran. I hope I didn't surprise you," Yukari replied.

"It is unusual to see you up at this time of day, Mistress. Did you have that nightmare again?," Ran asked, her tone denoting this to be a common experience as of late.

"Yes, I had that nightmare once again," Yukari said, her voice lowering in tone.

"I see. How is the seal? Does it continue to weaken?"

"Unfortunately, it is. Every time the seal fluctuates, it loses a little more of its strength. I've done all I can to reinforce the seal on my own, but my best efforts have only stalled the weakening trend. It seems inevitable that the seal will break."

"How long do we have before the seal breaks fully?"

"Based on the current rate of decline in power and taking my efforts to stall it into effect, along with average of all other possible events that could either weaken and strengthen the seal, my best calculation would indicate the seal failing in 357 days, 11 hours, 48 minutes, and 28.862 seconds; roughly a year from now."

"Should we tell Reimu, then? This seal was made possible by the combined efforts of yourself and the Hakurei maidens. With Reimu's help, it may be possible to successfully restore the seal to it's full strength."

"I have considered such a possibility, and am debating it. I'm not sure if it would be of help, though. For one, Reimu isn't even supposed to know about the existence of this place, let alone what's sealed here. She's still too young and inexperienced. The only reason she knows about this place at all is because of that Kario person and his interference."

"This is true, but Reimu's powers are stronger than those of previous Hakurei maidens at her age. She may still be able to assist."

"I have considered this, as well. She does have a natural born talent that her predecessors did not have. It is possible she may have enough mastery of the powers of the Hakurei line to aid me in rebuilding the seal. However, she lacks discipline. Based on her innate talents, she should be capable of becoming one of the most powerful Hakurei maidens of all time, and yet she does not take steps to develop her powers. The only reason she has any kind of ability at all is through the incidents she's resolved over the years. And then there is her attitude towards me. As much as I'd like for her to see me as a mentor there to guide her, she sees me more like a meddlesome pest. Granted, my role in the Saigyou Ayakashi incident led to our meeting on rather negative terms, but still, I've long since given her a chance to see I'm not that kind of person. As of now, though, if I were to present this to her, she would respond by griping about how I've been keeping more secrets from her, and how she should exterminate me for the better of Gensokyo, or something along those lines."

"I do agree with you, Mistress, but still, if it is between the seal breaking and Reimu showing more animosity towards you, I should think the well being of Gensokyo would take precedence over your relationship with the current Hakurei maiden. I'm sorry if I'm out of line..."

"No, no, you're right, dear. I believe I just needed to hear it from someone. I will strongly consider involving Reimu. I would have liked to wait until she was thirty, as I have with every other maiden, but it seems as though I will not have that chance. I will continue in my efforts to reinforce the seal for the time being. If I continue to not make any progress for another month, or if the seal's rate of power loss increases, I shall bring in Reimu to aid me. Does this agree with you?"

"It is not my place to question you, Mistress. I believe in your ability to make sound judgments for the safety of us all. However, as you have asked for my opinion, I do believe this course of action you have chosen is most agreeable."

"Then it's settled. I shall return to bed now. Hopefully this little conversation will put that nightmare to rest for the time being. Still, though..."

"Does the potential meaning of the dream have you worried, Mistress?"

"I know I've said this many times over, but I cannot emphasize enough how dreams lie along the barriers between past, present, and future. If this nightmare is indeed an indication of the future, then perhaps the failure of the seal is inevitable, and we should do well to prepare for the worst case scenario. Still, there is no sense in fretting over something that hasn't happened yet, as well. The future is so easy to manipulate and change. What I see today may not be what I see tomorrow."

"But you are still concerned?"

"I am. It was difficult defeating him the first time. It's safe to assume the trap we used to defeat him last time will not work again. His counterpart does not appear to be nearly as strong. Even with my ability to calculate things as they are, it is hard to imagine just what kind of differences could lead to the formation of two very different individuals."

"I am also surprised; I thought for sure he would cause problems, and yet the only person with any complaints is the witch. It's one situation where I am happy to be wrong."

"I feel the same way, dear. Let us hope my nightmare is also in error, and that we have nothing to worry about."

"I will, Mistress. Please rest well. I will continue the cleaning while you rest. Is there anything else you would like me to take care of?"

"Nothing for now, but if you could, later, I would ask you change the bedsheets. They are in need of cleaning."

"I will have it taken care of. Good day, Mistress Yukari," Ran said, before bowing before her mistress. Ran turned to take her leave of Yukari, tending to her daily chores, while Yukari continued to feel out the power of the seal.

"_He won't return. I just need to have faith in myself and Reimu. Even if Reimu will be upset over my decision to hold more information from her, she would help me in a heartbeat if it meant preventing another evil from being unleashed upon the land,"_ Yukari thought to herself. Yukari performed a small spell to attempt to strengthen the seal before departing the shrine and making her way back to her room, where she did her best to put thoughts of her nightmare aside so she may return to sleep.

In another place entirely, there are a group of individuals out on a boat. The skies are nearly clear; a few fluffy clouds dotting the sky. The boat itself is modest in size, set to accommodate a small group of six to eight. The small white boat was several feet long. On the bow, there was two pads for sunbathers. Right behind it was a cavity for the main spaces of the boat, finished with wood paneling. There was two seats for the driver and assistant in front of the dashboard, with two more seats behind for passengers. There was a hatch behind the seats for storage of food and other supplies. Behind that was the main deck of the boat, followed by another small hatch for maintenance and the engine. The boat was speeding across the waters it was seated on.

"Slow down!" shouted one of the passengers. The apparently young lady was wearing a pink dress with short sleeves. The dress had a red bow at the end of each sleeve. There was a large red bow with white stripes and a matching red ribbon going around the waist of the dress. At the end of the dress is another red ribbon sewn into it. She is wearing pink slipper-shoes with a red ribbon on top. Around her neck is a necklace resembling a Caduceus. Upon her head of short blue hair lies a pink mob cap with a large red bow and ribbon sewn into it. She is carrying a pink parasol with lace frills. Upon her back are a large pair of bat wings. Her red eyes grow wide each time the boat jumps from hitting a wave.

"Yeah, she's right, Gen! Slow this thing down a little!" shouted a man standing nearby. The man was average in height, and portly in build, though not grossly overweight. He was wearing a deep green T-shirt with black pants, bearing green strips and having chains hanging from them. He had a pair of black tennis shoes to go with his outfit. His wavy, shoulder length dark brown hair was blowing around in breeze generated by the boat's movement. His brown eyes going wide in turn with those of the vampire beside him.

"Slow down? Are you kidding? This is way too much fun!" shouted another man. This man was clearly a youkai, his white wolf ears and bushy white tail giving it away. He had deep red eyes to further indicate his status as a non-human. He was wearing a long sleeved, blue shirt with slits at the shoulders, revealing a silver under shirt beneath it. He had a pair of black trousers with silver triangles patterned around the edge, stopping just short of his Tengu geta, with a dark blue strap over black tabi socks. Unlike the other two, the man had a huge grin on his face, clearly enjoying the ride. He sat in front of the controls of the boat, shouts to slow down only encouraging him to go that much faster.

"Let's go even faster, Gen-kun!" shouted the woman seated beside the man at the controls. She has shoulder length blond hair, with a longer part of it tied off in a ponytail on the left side of her head. She is wearing a red vest, with a matching red dress. Under her vest is a pink, short sleeved shirt, and upon her bust lays a yellow bow. On her wrists are two frilly pink arm bands with red ribbons down the middle, matching a pair of ankle bands resting at the top of her brown shoes. Upon her head rests a pink mob cap, with a red bow and ribbon sewn into it. On her back are a pair of wings apparently made of wrought iron with prism shards hanging from them, the colors of which, from inside to out going light blue, blue, purple, pink, orange, yellow, green, then light blue again for the last shard. Her deep red eyes and grin match the expression of the man beside her.

"Yesh, yesh, let's go as fast as we can!" shouted a girl standing behind the driver and his partner. The pair of black cat ears, the left one having a gold earring, and twin black, white tipped cat tails signal the girl is also a youkai. The girl has short brown hair and dark orange eyes. She's wearing a red, collared vest with gold trim and a small yellow ribbon, and a red dress with a pink stripe and pink section at the end. She is wearing matching pink slipper-shoes. One her head rests a green mob cap, and her fingernails are painted red. She has her right hand raised in the air, her left resting on the back of the driver seat, while she shouts in delight and excitement at the speed of the boat.

"Gen, perhaps you should consider listening to the mistress," spoke a woman standing near the vampire girl in pink. The woman had silver hair which went down to her shoulder blades and a pair of braids ending in small green bows in the front, along with silver eyes. She was wearing a blue and white French maid dress, with a blue vest and dress over a white, short sleeved blouse with frills at the end of the sleeves. Over her dress is a white apron tied with a large white bow at the waist. She also has a small green bow tied below the collar of the blouse. She has a frilly white maid head band and a pair of formal brown shoes with white socks.

"Yep, Sakuya's right! Let's go faster!" shouted the girl in red.

"I think she meant Remilia!" shouted the man in chained pants.

"Flandre, Genichiro, slow down! I'm serious to the point of actually agreeing with Roku on something, and that doesn't happen very often!" Remilia shouted, while almost losing her grip on her parasol, her expression of surprise reflecting it.

"I wanna go faster, too, though!" shouted the cat youkai.

"Chen, you don't have a say in this!" Remilia shouted.

"Aw..." muttered Chen.

"Okay, okay, I'll slow it down a little," Genichiro replied, his laughing grin turning to one of mild amusement as he finally started to slow the boat down, to the relief of Remilia, Roku, and Sakuya.

"Thank you, Genichiro," Remilia said.

"No problem, Remi. But when we do water skies later, we're going fast again. Those don't work all that well when going slow.," Genichiro replied.

"Yeah, Gen-kun says it'll be really fun!" Flandre shouted.

"Wait, you got water skies on this thing?" Roku asked, a look of surprise adorned on his face.

"Well, yeah. If we're going to get a luxury speed boat, it has to have some water skies to go with it, otherwise, what's the fun?" Genichiro asked.

"But... but... we can fly. Why water skies?" Roku asked.

"Why climb a mountain rather than fly up it? Why swim in the ocean when we would just go swimming in a pool? Why take a bike instead of driving? Because it's more fun that way! Flying might be new to you, but for the rest of us, it's 'been there, done that,'" Genichiro explained, "And besides, you're still not all that good at flying. I've seen fairies go faster."

"H-hey, you guys cheat! Besides, aren't vampires and Tengu the fastest in all of Gensokyo?" Roku asked, "and she cheats, she can manipulate time and space... and the cat... I don't know about her, but I'm sure she cheats, too."

"I don't cheat! Ran-shama just taught me well, that's all!" Chen shouted in a tone of mild anger.

"That Ran... and the crazy lady with the blond hair... I'm still irritated at her for throwing me in that Makai place for two months!" Roku shouted.

"Makai is a good place for humans to train to use magic. Lady Yukari thought she would help you out, since you were so insistent on learning how to use magic," Sakuya stated mater of factly.

"How can you say it like that! I was attacked by all kinds of youkai while I was down there! And then there was that freaky sword maid! I swear, that woman is not human!" Roku shouted.

"There are those who would say the same of me, but I can assure you that I am just as much a human as you are," Sakuya replied.

"Ugh, I have to wonder about that one," came the voice of a girl lying on one of the two tanning pads on the bow of the boat, her long blond hair spread out behind her head, with a braided portion on the left, tied with a small, purple bow. Her yellow eyes slowly opening after her little nap, she started to turn from lying on her back to lying on her front. On a normal day, Marisa Kirisame would be wearing the outfit of a stereotypical western witch, with a black vest and dress over a faint pink, frilly short-sleeved blouse. She always had a faint pink apron over her dress. She had a matching black, pointed hat, with a purple bow tied around it and faint pink frills coming from where her head fits into the hat. Her normal outfit finished with maroon shoes with purple bows on top and faint pink socks. Today, she had on a two piece bikini, the top black, while the bottom is black with pink polka dots. Her normal outfit was folded up and resting in one of the storage compartments.

"There are those who would say the same of you," Remilia replied, a look of mild annoyance resting upon her face.

"Well, there are those who think you're a child, but I try to keep to only saying it about twice a week," Marisa replied with a smug grin on her face.

"Okay, before you two get into another fight, just try and calm down. This boat is a really poor place for a spell card duel. Besides, Remi spent a lot of money on this for us. It would be a shame to trash it on the first day," Genichiro said, a look of mild panic upon his face as he quickly tried to diffuse the situation.

"Gen is right, mistress. Perhaps you two should wait until later to have a duel?" Sakuya offered.

"I suppose it can wait, then," Remilia replied.

"_That's a relief. This boat isn't even mine, and I feel an urge to keep it safe, just because of it's price tag,"_ Genichiro thought to himself.

"Hey, Mari-nee, you should be careful about falling asleep like that. You don't want to get a bad sunburn, do you?" Flandre asked of Marisa.

"Hm? Oh, don't worry, Flan, I borrowed this stuff right here," Marisa said, while holding up a bottle of SPF 70 sunblock, and making a cheeky grin, "I got this when I got this outfit."

While Marisa was leaning over to show Flandre the sunblock, Roku was trying to avert his eyes from staring down at Marisa's breasts. He remembered quite well what happened the last time he gave Marisa one perverted gaze too many, resulting in his enjoying a Master Spark to the groin.

"Seriously, how did you manage to get those out of that store without getting caught?" Genichiro shouts in a tone of mild frustration, while reflecting back on two days ago.

_That day was a cloudy one. The sky was threatening rain, so the group remained indoors, as Remilia hated going out in the rain. The group of Remilia, Flandre, Sakuya, Chen, Marisa, and Genichiro were at what was now Remilia's house. Remilia had decided to purchase the house Genichiro was renting from his landlord, so they could have a place to stay when they made trips to his world. Remilia wanted to buy a mansion, but Genichiro had coaxed her into a more modest building, in order to avoid standing out too much. They kicked out the others renting the place; Remilia allowed Roku to stay as long as he helped to clean the place, much as the maids at her Gensokyo mansion do, and with about the same amount of competence. The group was trying to think of fun things to do, when Chen brought up the idea of water-skiing. She had mentioned seeing people doing it before on one of her trips to the Outside World, and had always wanted to try it out, but could never convince Yukari and Ran to try it. Genichiro and Flandre thought it was a wonderful idea, but Genichiro knew boats were expensive. Remilia decided that if it really was as fun as Chen was saying that she would like to try it out, and offered to use her money to buy the boat for everyone. Genichiro mentioned that day would be good for going shopping, since there was nothing much else to do. Since it was raining, they needed to travel by car, so Remilia kicked Roku awake, who happened to be sleeping on the couch, and coerced him into driving everyone there in the limousine she bought, much to Genichiro's dismay, as he keeps insisting they need to keep a low profile in his world. With Roku the only one able to drive, everyone piled into the scarlet limo, with rose tinted windows for further emphasis on the owner of the vehicle. The group made their way to one of the department stores in the area. Genichiro decided they would need swimwear for their boat trip, and headed for that part of the store. Marisa disappeared shortly after that, leaving Genichiro to mumble over and over again about "thieving witches." After the group had found swimsuits for themselves, Marisa reappeared. Genichiro slapped himself in the face when he saw a price tag hanging out of Marisa's hat, but let it go. He figured she was going to get caught for sure this time, and let it be. After everyone made their purchases and left through the security scanners, Genichiro waited for them to go off as Marisa walked through. They never did, to Genichiro's surprise. Genichiro asked how she pulled it off, and Marisa told him she carefully removed all the alarm tags in a way that wouldn't damage the merchandise they were attached to. Flandre gave a brief lecture to Marisa about why stealing is bad, despite everyone, including Flandre, knowing it wouldn't do any good before walking off, directing Roku to take everyone to a place they could buy a boat._

"I just know what I'm doing!" Marisa said, with a serious look on her face.

"And yet I always get caught!" Roku shouted, remembering what happened when he walked through the security scanners. Genichiro had thought it was a delayed reaction to Marisa, until the security guards grabbed Roku, and shook him down for the outfits he tried to take. He was forced to pay for everything, then given a two month ban on entering the store.

"You just don't have the knack for it," Marisa replied with a smug grin.

"It's better you did get caught. I have enough problems worrying about this one getting caught. Then again, at least she's human. If one of us got caught, we'd have problems," Genichiro stated, the look on his face showing his thoughts of having humans figure out what everyone in his group was.

"Oh, come on, even if we did get caught like that, we could beat them all ze!" Marisa shouted while being a mischievous grin.

"But, Mistress Yukari says it's bad to fight normal humans with our magic," Chen piped in.

"Well, I'm not Yukari," Marisa replied.

"Oh, how I will enjoy the day when she decides to play with the barrier between your spine and your body," Remilia whispered out loud, an evil grin crossing her face, a light chuckle escaping from her mind at the thought.

"I don't know what you find amusing, but something tells me I should be worried about it," Roku said.

"You should be, little boy," Remilia replied.

"You calling me little, while you're..." Roku started, but stopped with a look of fear when he saw Remilia's hands start to glow red from gathered magical energy. Roku had gained a few Gungnir spears to the face for saying one insult too many. Each time Roku was thankful spell card duels were non-lethal.

"While you're such a cute, proper lady, that could never do wrong!" Roku shouted, while trying to back away from Remilia, quickly remembering he was on a boat and already at the railing. Roku's look of fear started to die down along with Remilia's magic.

"Why thank you," Remilia said politely, leaving Roku to breathe a sigh of relief, before Remilia's innocent grin twisted as she kicked him in the shin, causing Roku to fall down onto the deck.

"Huh, she must be in a good mood today; she didn't kick him the balls this time ze!" Marisa shouted.

"He really needs to learn when to keep his mouth shut. I thought for sure that guard by the gate to Makai was going to kill him when he made that foolish comment about how her spinning attacks lifted her dress too high," Genichiro said.

"I remember that one. Good thing we were there to save him," Flandre said.

Roku let out a couple of groans before pulling himself back up. He looked to be straining as he pulled himself up and decided it would be best to hold off on speaking for a little while, lest he anger either the mistress of the Scarlet Devil Mansion or the black-white witch.

"Does this happen a lot?" Chen asked out of curiosity, while pointing at Roku.

"More often then it should. Happens when one speaks before thinking," Genichiro replied, while emphasizing the last part for Roku to hear. Roku's response was a couple swears. Sakuya responded to the poor use of language by kicking Roku off of the boat.

"Nice one!" Marisa shouted.

"I don't appreciate such language being used around my lady," Sakuya replied with a tone as calm as the look on her face.

"I hope he figures out he can just fly out of the water; he never did learn how to swim," Genichiro commented. The sound of splashing could be heard coming from the side of the boat. The splashing continued on for a couple of minutes.

"Just fly out of there, you idiot!" Remilia shouted. The splashing stopped as Roku rose from the water, then landed on the deck, shivering from the cool air.

"I don't care if we're off the coast of Miyakojima or not, it's still near winter!" Roku shouted.

"Just be glad we're not off the northern coast of Hokkaido; you'd think we brought the ice fairy with us if we did," Genichiro replied.

"I wanted to bring her, but we couldn't find her in her usual place," Flandre remarked.

"Just as good that we didn't. We already have one guest too many," Remilia stated.

"I can kick him off the boat again, if you so desire it," Sakuya offered.

"No, no, that's fine," Remilia muttered.

"_I was talking about the cat; I consider that human to be a pest, not a guest. But that Yukari. She just shows up at my mansion one day, then tells me that she needs to give her shikigami a bit of a break, since the fox is doing all the work for her. Then she dumps off the cat, telling us to take care of her, or else, before throwing in the bit about how it's payment for use of the portal generator machine she had the kappa build for her, not that I really asked for the thing in the first place. She gave it to Genichiro, not me, but no, I have to foot the bill anyway. Oh well, at least she's a better guest than others I've had to deal with," _Remilia thought to herself, while looking over in the direction of Marisa.

"Is it time for water skiing yet?" Flandre asks.

"Yeah, sure, why not?" Genichiro replied, "Hey Roku, you mind taking the helm for a moment while we change out into our bathing suits?"

"Yeah, sure. At least I'll go slow enough so we don't all lose our lunch," Roku remarked before switching places with Genichiro. The pair of Genichiro and Flandre made their way to the storage compartments, which Sakuya had altered with her space manipulation abilities into a full bedroom with a closet.

"Hey, hey, not both of you together!" Remilia shouted, ready to move to keep the two apart, only to be stopped by Sakuya.

"Hey, hey, don't leave that pervert with my sister down there!" Remilia shouted with a look of frustration.

"Mistress, they have been a couple for a year now, and have seen each other nude several times. Not once has Genichiro attempted to take advantage of the situation, nor has your sister. Even I had my doubts at first, and lodged several of my knives into his skull to show it, but those doubts have since left," Sakuya replied.

"Humph, a year may be a lot to humans, but to those who have lived long like us, that's an instant," Remilia remarked.

"This is true, but still, you know their affections are born of pure feelings, not those born of lust. You should know this much after Yukari did that test for you," Sakuya stated.

"I don't care if she made it so he could only tell the truth for that interview or not, I find it hard to believe a _man_ that has lived that long is a virgin. And even it if is true, I'm sure that makes him all the more..."

"Done!" Flandre shouted, as she emerged with Genichiro, cutting off Sakuya and Remilia.

Flandre was now wearing a two piece swimsuit. The top and bottom were both a deep scarlet, with pink frills around the edges. Genichiro's swim trunks were navy blue with two pairs of silver stripes, one pair on each side along the seam.

"Hm? Was Remi-nee going on about he Gen-kun is supposed to take advantage of me again?" Flandre asked in an innocent tone.

"Yep, she was," Marisa replied, earning a glare from the older vampire. Genichiro could only sigh as he went to get the skies and rope together.

"Our turn," Remilia said, before descending with Sakuya into the room to change into their swimsuits, while Genichiro set up the water-skies. When they emerged, Remilia was wearing a pink one piece swim suit, with a red stripe around the arm straps and another along the bottom edge of the swim suit. Sakuya emerged with a two piece swim suit. Her top was a deep blue, while the bottom was mostly white, with strips of blue at the sides.

"Man, I wish I knew that's why you guys were buying swim suits for," Roku muttered, while thinking about how fun it would be to swim "a little too close" to Sakuya, Flandre, and Marisa.

"Me next, me next!" shouted Chen, as she made her way down. Genichiro finished setting up the water-skies as the little nekomata returned. She was wearing a two piece, with a red top. The bottom was red with a little, frilly orange skirt around it.

"Alright, now then, who want to give this a try first?" Genichiro asked.

"Me, me!" Chen shouted.

"I know, let Remi-nee go first," Flandre replied, while giving Genichiro a small grin.

"_Oh, I like how she thinks,"_ Genichiro thought to himself, "Well, mistress of the mansion, would you like to have a go?"

"Ah, letting me go first. How thoughtful. Just keep this thing at reasonable speeds; if I end up falling into the water, I'll drive a spear into your skull," Remilia replied. Genichiro and Flandre smiled in response. Genichiro thought a Gungnir to the head was well worth seeing the surprised looks on Remilia's face. Remilia set herself up on the pair of skies, and held onto the handle as the end of the rope, tied onto the back of the boat.

"Okay, let's get this thing going!" Genichiro shouted.

"Remember, not too fast," Remilia said, while holding on tight to the rope. Sakuya offered Genichiro a glare, but he ignored it as he got the boat up to speed. At first, Genichiro kept the speed down, letting Remilia get a feel for the skies. Remilia enjoyed the cool embrace of the air against her body, likening the feeling to that of flying through the sky at full speed. She didn't mind the water occasionally splashing up against her, choosing to enjoy the experience in full.

"Feel free to try some tricks, Remi!" Flandre shouted.

"Tricks? On these? It's more enjoyable to just enjoy the ride," Remilia replied, a peaceful grin on her face as the boat sped along. At that point, Flandre turned around and gave Genichiro a nod, prompting him to take the boat to it's maximum speed. Remilia's peaceful grin turned from one of relaxation to panic at feeling the boat pull her along faster.

"Hey, hey! I said keep the speed on this thing down!" Remilia shouted.

"Keep down the speed? Now where's the fun in that? If you want to the full experience, you have to go a little fast. You don't want to only have half the fun, right?" Genichiro replied, before breaking off into a laugh. Flandre soon joined him.

"Ah! Slow this thing down!" Remilia shouted, but her voice was drowned out by increasing sounds of the engine. Remilia's expression turned to fear as she felt the boat hit it's maximum speed, more so every time the boat hit a small wave, and left her in the air for a moment. Genichiro was also taking a few random turns, to make sure Remilia had a memorable ride. The pair of Genichiro and Flandre continued to laugh. Marisa joined in, finding the whole situation amusing. Sakuya was glaring at the group, well aware they had planned on doing this to Remilia from the start. Chen was shouting for joy, next to Roku, who was gripping onto the boat as hard as Remilia was holding onto the handle at the end of the rope.

After ten minutes of going at full speed, Remilia stopped shouting. Her expressions of fear subsided, as well. As she started getting used to the experience, she found going fast to be much more enjoyable than going slow. She even tried to guide herself towards the waves, so she could get airborne.

"Hey, make this thing go faster!" Remilia shouted, now enjoying the ride in full.

"See, Remi-nee? Going faster is a lot better! If feels like your gliding on the water, doesn't it?" Flandre shouted back.

"You're right! I might actually not spear Genichiro after all!" Remilia shouted with glee.

"I liked it better when she was screaming like a little girl," Roku muttered to himself, while still making sure he didn't fall off the boat. The pair kept the boat going for a few more minutes before coming to a stop. Sakuya and Flandre pulled Remilia back in, who looked sad to see it end.

"My, that was quite the ride. It's almost like flying at high speed over the lake, and yet it is its own experience," Remilia said.

"Told you you'd have fun," Genichiro replied with a grin.

"Let's see you go on this thing," Remilia said, while imagining taking the boat up to high speed right away, hoping to make Genichiro fall into the water.

"No way, I"m next. Ladies first, right Gen?" Marisa said, getting tired of just sunbathing on the bow of the boat.

"Well, can't argue with that," Genichiro replied.

"_Ho ho, even better. I wouldn't mind seeing her fall in, either," _Remilia thought to herself, a small grin forming on her face. Genichiro and Flandre set Marisa up to go, setting her on the skies and giving her the rope. Genichiro took to the driver's seat, and took the boat up to high speed right away.

"Oh yeah!" Marisa shouted in joy, while thrusting up her fist in the air in excitement.

"Take this boat up to it's highest speed!" Remilia shouted, no longer holding onto the railing in fear of falling.

"Yeah, yeah, go faster!" Flandre shouted.

"Alright, let's take this thing up to the max!" Genichiro shouted, while taking the boat up to it's highest speed. Marisa's loud shouts could be heard loud and clear as she got sent into the air by the small waves going across the waters. The boat continued along the path until another boat came up to the side. The boat was white on top, and bright red on the bottom. It was a much smaller boat than the one Remilia bought. The other boat was able to go faster than Remilia's boat, and was operated by a group of four men.

"Oh yeah, look at that!" shouted one of the men, who was wearing a pair of green swim trunks. He had short blond hair, and brown eyes. He was the one driving the boat.

"Hey man, get a little closer!" shouted another one of the men. He was wearing black swim trunks with red flames going around the bottom edge. He had short red hair and brown eyes.

"Yo! Check out the knockers on her!" shouted the third man of the group. He was wearing plain black swim trunks and had long brown hair in a ponytail and blue eyes.

"Man, I'd like to rock the body of that silver haired one!" shouted a fourth man. He was wearing orange swim trunks and had shoulder length blond hair and green eyes.

"Ugh, disgusting," Remilia said. Sakuya nodded in agreement.

"_You would think the wings would be a turn off,"_ Genichiro thought to himself.

"_Oh man, you guys do not want these girls. They're crazy,"_ Roku thought to himself, while still gripping the rail.

"Hey dude, you see those crystal things on the back of that chick in the red?" the flame trunks man asked.

"Who cares when you got a pair of mountains to go with them!" the orange trunks man shouted.

"You got your eyes on her, because I'm all about the chick in black right now," the black trunks man replied.

"Hey man, I think the girl with silver hair is looking at me! Oh man, she is! And she's pulling out... knives?" the orange trunks man asked, right before one of Sakuya's knives narrowly missed his neck. The knife gave the man an unwanted hair cut, and a surprise he wouldn't soon forget. A look of fear spread across his face as part of his blond hair fell upon the boat deck.

"What the?" the flame trunks man shouted.

"Why that lousy wench! I'll show her a trick or two!" the green trunks man shouted, as he turned his boat towards Remilia's.

"Oh, I think you made him mad," Remilia said, a grin on her face.

"Is that guy trying to ram us? Okay, I can play. Everyone, hold on!" Genichiro shouted, as he turned Remilia's boat towards the other, setting up a game of chicken between the two vehicles.

"Hey man, that guy just turned towards us!" the orange trunks man shouted, a look of surprise on his face.

"I can see that!" the green trunks man shouted, as he upped the speed of his boat, "Hey, fool! Let's see who'll turn first! I promise you it won't be me!"

"That's okay, smart one, I didn't plan on turning! Flandre dear, if you could clear the path?" Genichiro asked.

"Oh? But I thought we couldn't use our magic here. Don't want to get noticed, after all," Flandre replied.

"Ah, yes, I did say that, didn't I? Well, I suppose just this one time..."

"Okay! Kyuu!" Flandre shouted, while cutting off Genichiro. The boat in front of Remilia's exploded into a ball of fire, sending it's four occupants into the air, right before they all hit the water. All four men rushed up to the surface, looks of surprise and disbelief spread across their faces.

"What just happened!" the green trunks man shouted. The other three were too stunned to say anything. Genichiro stopped Remilia's boat just ahead of them, leaving Marisa right in the middle of the group of them.

"Hey guys, you really shouldn't mess with a vampire or her boyfriend. Both of them really like blowing things up, you know," Marisa said, with a cheeky grin.

"Wait, that girl is a vampire?" the green trunks man asked.

"Yep! And that girl with the silver hair, the one that threw that knife earlier? She's her maid. She's pretty good with those knives, you know. She almost never misses her target," Marisa replied.

"Almost?" the orange trunks man asked, the look of fear and illness hitting his face again.

"She doesn't hit me all too often. Well, take care now, boys!" Marisa shouted, before blowing a kiss to them, as Genichiro took the boat up to speed again. The four men kept themselves afloat as the boat headed off into the distance.

"So, now what?" the flame trunks man asked.

"We start swimming back," the green trunks man grunted, as he pointed his self towards the shore. The other three grumbled and swore under their breath as they followed their leader back.

"Did you have to blow up their boat?" Roku asked.

"Well, I would have rather asked Marisa to master spark it to make a point, but since she's back there, and her hakkero is dowm there, I thought we'd take the simple approach," Genichiro replied.

"But you could have killed them!" Roku shouted.

"No, I just made the boat go kyuu. I don't like killing people for no reason, you know," Flandre replied, while pointing her feet inwards and looking down like a shy person.

"Not that I would have cared if she did kill them," Remilia replied, "It's bad enough you have a boyfriend, Flan. Having those men give you stares like that is more than I can tolerate. They even had the nerve to look at Sakuya like that!"

"Can you blame them?" Roku asked, earning himself a kick to the shin from Remilia.

"Okay, okay, I get it... ow..." muttered Roku, as he went back to holding onto the railing of the boat away from where Remilia and Sakuya were.

"So, who wants to go next?" Genichiro asked.

"I do! I do!" Chen shouted, while jumping up and down.

"Alright, sure," Genichiro replied, as he brought the boat to a stand still, so he could set up the little nekomata with the water skies.

The group spent the rest of the day out on the waters with the water-skies, before heading back to shore around sunset. The group changed back into their regular clothes before departing the boat. After they disembarked, Sakuya used her ability to manipulate space to reduce the boat to appearing to be the size of a small toy. Genichiro pulled out a small steel case and placed the boat inside. Though the boat itself was the size of a toy, it was only because of the alterations to the space it occupied. It still had the same amount of weight. A youkai could still lift it around and carry it with ease, but a human would never be able to get it off the ground. The group took to the skies and made their return back to Genichiro's home on Hokkaido. Genichiro stored his boat in the basement of the house before the group, excluding Roku, who had to work that night, made their return to Gensokyo through use of a portal device.

The portal device itself was a leftover from Genichiro's first foray into Gensokyo. It was created by another man from his world for travel to and from the different dimensions. After the man, Kario Sen, was defeated, and all of his group destroyed, bits of his technology remained. The kappa Nitori Kawashiro was able to study the principal tool of Kario's group, their armor outfits, and figure out how to duplicate his technology. She created a portal generating device after being asked by Yukari to make one. After Yukari used it once, and learned how to get to Genichiro's world with her natural abilities, she gave it to Genichiro to use. As payment, she sometimes has the group look after Chen or run some other errand for her with Ran from time to time. It's not often enough to be a bother, though Remilia does remark about how inconvenient it is to owe a debt to the Youkai of Boundaries.

The group arrived in front of the mansion as the sun began to set. Hong Meiling, the gate keeper of the mansion stood at her post to greet the group. She had long, scarlet hair and aqua colored eyes with lightly tanned skin. Her hair had two braided parts, one on each side, tied off with a green ribbon. She was wearing a green China dress over a white, short sleeved blouse, and had a matching green beret with a gold star, upon which was inscribed the character '龍' or dragon. She was wearing brown dress shoes with white socks and had green wrist bands. Upon seeing everyone, Meiling asked if they had fun while out. After a brief summary of the trip, the group made their way inside.

Sakuya made preparations for their evening meal, while the others visited the mansion's resident bibliophile, Patchouli Knowledge. Patchouli had violet eyes and long, deep violet hair, with two strands going down the side of her face. The right strand was tied with a blue bow, the right with a red. The two bows corresponded to the ribbons on the sides of the lavender night cap she wore. The night cap had a golden crescent brooch pinned to the front. She was wearing lavender pajamas, which consisted of a lavender overcoat and a violet-lavender vertically stripped dress underneath. There were more red and blue bows on the side, opposite of those she wore in her hair and on her cap. She had on lavender slipper shoes, each one having a single red or blue bow, matching the color of her dress.

Also within the library was Patchouli's assistant, Koakuma. She had long, scarlet hair and red eyes. She had two pairs of bat-like wings, a small pair on head, and a larger pair on her back. She was wearing a long, black dress, with two white stripes around the bottom, over a white, short sleeve blouse. She had on a pair of brown dress shoes with white socks.

The group came to visit the pair to tell them about their day. Remilia had asked Patchouli if she wanted to come, but she chose to remain in the library, as she usually did when asked to leave, though she and Koakuma did join the group from time to time. Patchouli cautioned against the use of magic in Genichiro's world, only to earn a laugh from the group at the look of surprise on the face of the men that tried to approach the group. Patchouli sighed, before letting out a mild chuckle, agreeing that it was a humorous story, while Koakuma was doing her best not to laugh too loud. An hour later, Sakuya served dinner in the main dining hall. The group enjoyed Sakuya's expert cooking before heading out for their night errands. Genichiro relieved Meiling and took his night guard shift, while Flandre and Remilia went out to take a walk together.

With Marisa already in the mansion, Genichiro didn't have to worry about too many trying to approach the mansion, and none with enough talent to challenge him to a fair fight. A few fairies who didn't understand that no meant no attempted to enter, only to get repelled, while a few others tried to fly over him, only to get sent back crashing into the ground. A few hours into his shift, a strange youkai appeared before Genichiro, one he had never seen before.

"Welcome to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Please state your name and business here," Genichiro said, while locking his eyes onto the youkai. As he came into view, Genichiro could see the youkai. He was a good foot shorter than Genichiro. He had long, black hair, and a pair of black wolf ears poking through it. He had deep blue eyes that almost appeared to glow in the dark of night. His skin was a light tan, and he was wearing a plain, gray kimono with straw sandals and black tabi socks. His black fur tail was hanging down and to the sides, moving gently with the youkai's movement.

"I see, so they have you stand guard, do they? What a waste for someone of your talents," the youkai replied.

Genichiro narrowed his eyes at the youkai. From the expression on the youkai's face, it was clear he recognized Genichiro from somewhere. He had been seen in many places throughout Gensokyo since his arrival, though he did not recognize the person before him. Though he appeared to be a wolf youkai, it could be told from his appearance that he was not a wolf tengu.

"Have we met before?" Genichiro asked in a serious tone.

"No, we have not. I have heard of you, though. I heard you were from a different world, one where Gensokyo does not exist at all, and that you were a very powerful youkai," the youkai answered.

"Oh? Power is irrelevant here; even a weak youkai could defeat a powerful one in a spell card duel. Even I've lost to humans before. Now then, please state your name and business," Genichiro stated.

"Ho ho, very well. My name is Jirou. I come here to offer myself as your personal servant, to become your shikigami," the youkai replied.

"Become my shikigami? Do you realize what you are requesting?" Genichiro asked, a look of surprise currently spread on his face.

"I am well aware of what I ask, and what the implications are. If you would like, I can be your servant for a few days, allowing you time to see if I would be a worthwhile shikigami for you," Jirou replied.

Genichiro looked at Jirou for a few moments, while thinking it over to himself. He considered the advantages of having a shikigami. He knew about how they work through Yukari and Ran. He understood the bond was deeper than that of simple servant and master, as a shikigami shared part of the power of the master, and gained strength when in full sync with their masters. It was not a decision to be made spur of the moment. He also had to consider how Remilia would respond. The mansion was not his personal household, and he knew he couldn't just invite someone into the household without Remilia's permission. After a few moments, he reached his decision.

"I will consider it, but only with the approval of the mistress of the household," Genichiro said.

"Mistress of the household? Remilia Scarlet? But surely you could make demands of her, could you not? You are much more powerful than she is, after all!" Jirou shouted in protest.

"Whether I could defeat Remilia in battle or not is not the issue. It is her household, and I am obligated to follow her rules without question. If you wish to be my shikigami, you must follow suit in this. If you are unable to do so, then I must ask you to leave," Genichiro answered.

"I see. I shall listen, then. I hope your mistress will allow me," Jirou replied.

"I can see her approaching the mansion now. If you wish, you may ask her when she arrives," Genichiro replied, while looking off into the distance. Jirou turned around, but his weaker senses left him unable to see Remilia and Flandre until they were much closer. The pair landed before Genichiro, both smiling after their night out together.

"Hey Gen-kun!" Flandre shouted, before running past Jirou and wrapping up Genichiro in a hug. The two shared a small kiss before turning around to look at Remilia.

"How was your night, Remi?" Genichiro asked.

"Pleasant. No one to bother us, except some small fairies. Reimu mentioned she wouldn't mind your coming along next time I visit the shrine. It has been a while since the last time you two met. Other than that..."

"We managed to show up that ice fairy!" Flandre shouted, cutting off Remilia, "She tried to trick us into walking along an ice covered path and falling, but we got one on her by hovering above it, making it look like we were going to fall. When she tried to run up to us to see who we were, she got the surprise of her life when she found out it was the two of us, and not some random youkai. We had a fun little spell card duel afterward. She wanted to take us both on, one at a time. We both beat her, of course. She is getting better, but she's still no match for us!"

"Ha ha, Cirno never gives up, does she? Well, that's what's so fun about her. Ha, anyway, we have a guest here before us," Genichiro said, his lighthearted laugh becoming more serious as he gestured toward Jirou.

"Ho, a guest? What manner of guest are you?" Remilia asked of Jirou, while looking him up and down. The stare Remilia was giving him was beginning to make him nervous, as Remilia bore the appearance of a predator sizing up her prey.

"Ah, Mistress Scarlet, I seek to become the personal shikigami of Genichiro Ookami. With your permission, I would like to serve under him, and you, for a time so I may be judged if I am worthy of such an honor," Jirou answered, while trying to hide how nervous he was.

"Oh? Genichiro's shikigami, hm? Well, you do look like a match for him. I suppose I can allow this, but only if you prove to be useful. If I find you're not adding anything to my mansion, I'll kick you out myself. Do we have an understanding?" Remilia asked in a tone and posture that carried the weight of royalty and gave off an air of intimidation.

"I understand, Mistress Scarlet," Jirou replied.

"Very well, welcome to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Come now, and let us introduce you to the staff," Remilia said, as she gestured for Jirou to follow her. Remilia led Flandre and Jirou into the mansion, with Jirou following behind Flandre. Genichiro returned to looking out before the mansion, keeping an eye out for those who would approach and attempt to get past him. Jirou walked along, keeping up his timid act for the moment, before changing to an evil grin.

"_That was easier than I thought. Ha ha, Genichiro, you fool. I could care less about Remilia and this little mansion. Really, you don't matter much to me, either. All you are is the key, the key to awaking my true master from his sleep. Enjoy your life while you can, for when my master returns to exact his revenge on this land, your life will come to an end," _Jirou thought to himself, as he made his way into the mansion.


End file.
